After a debate that raised childhood memories, a City Council committee voted Tuesday to reject a proposal that would make Oakland the nation's first "no-spanking zone." The 2-1 vote by the Public Safety Committee reduced the likelihood that the full City Council would approve the idea pushed by retired college photography teacher Jordan Riak. Riak's proposal would carry no legal sanctions or punishment for adults who spank children.

Tired of hearing about punitive paddlings and bruised behinds, a retired college teacher is planning to urge the City Council this week to declare Oakland the nation's first "no-spanking zone." On Tuesday, Jordan Riak, 65, is scheduled to bring his proposed resolution before the council's public safety committee. The measure carries no legal sanctions or other punishment for adults who spank children, but it is intended as a symbolic gesture to raise public awareness.

Spare the rod and spoil the child.--Samuel Butler, 1663 I'm not advocating spanking, but I think it is less poisonous than lengthy disapproval.--Dr. Benjamin Spock, 1946 You can convince me that a good spanking does the child and the mother a lot of good. I've never doubted it. But I just don't like it.--Bruno Bettelheim, 1962 The swing away from discipline in the '40s and '50s has provided us with a discontented, angry generation . . .

Thousands of people watched while a teenage girl, shrouded in a head-to-toe veil, received 100 lashes for walking with a man who was not her relative. The Taliban religious army also publicly amputated the hands of two men convicted of stealing $500 from a shop. Their hands were later displayed to the crowd in the sports arena of Kabul, the capital. Over a loudspeaker a local Taliban leader warned: "This is the fate of anyone who steals."

A La Puente mother who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for paddling her 5-year-old daughter to death in what she described as an effort to rid the youngster of the devil was sentenced Monday to 15 years to life in state prison. Deborah Elizabeth Reynolds, 34, had provided key testimony against two other women in the July 1996 death of her 5-year-old daughter, Breeann Spickard.

A woman convicted of murder for urging a little girl's mother to beat the devil out of the child has earned a "special place in hell" for the fatal paddling, a judge said Wednesday. In handing down a sentence of 26 years to life in prison, Superior Court Judge Charles Horan also likened defendant Julia Ann Olivas, 36, of Baldwin Park to the notorious Charles Manson.

It began with the behavioral problems of several boys at St. John's Lutheran School--smart-alecky talk during classes, disrespect toward teachers and disregard of school rules. But in the year since two of the boys were expelled, these disciplinary problems have turned to legal ones amid allegations that teachers hit and shoved them and the pastor belittled and humiliated them.

In a chilling prelude to a gruesome crime, a 5-year-old girl participated in a brutal, tape-recorded beating of another youngster only weeks before she was murdered in a ritual to rid her of the devil, a Los Angeles jury heard Monday. The 45-minute recording, in which an 11-year-old's anguished cries could be heard amid a hellish chorus of "Jesus Loves Me," opened the third day of the trial of two women accused of killing Breeann Spickard in July 1996 at an apartment in Baldwin Hills.

A La Puente woman who paddled her 5-year-old daughter to death to "strike the devil out of her" was allowed to plead guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in exchange for her testimony against two other women who she said were involved in the beating. Deborah Elizabeth Reynolds, 33, will serve 15 years to life in prison, but will have a chance for parole. The plea agreement was struck shortly before Reynolds was to go on trial, along with Julia Ann Olivas, 36, and Esther Rebecca Griggs, 43.